white mantis black marking on chest

[mantiswhisperer]

i cant get a picture to post for some reason but i have a white praying mantis i found it is an adult, has a black marking in his chest where his grabbers meet it, could anyone give me any information? she looks the same as a normal green mantis just white 

 

[spider_creations]

Mabye an albino mantis? we cant get a good ID without a photo. Pictures would make the process much more easy

 

[CosbyArt]

i cant get a picture to post for some reason but i have a white praying mantis i found it is an adult, has a black marking in his chest where his grabbers meet it, could anyone give me any information? she looks the same as a normal green mantis just white

Albino insects of any kind is supposedly impossible, and I've never heard or seen of a legitimate one yet. I've only seen a "white" body in any insect (mantids included) shortly after them molting (before they fully harden and dry).

No idea of the species - as the "normal green mantis" could be dozens in the USA alone as green is found in any species. Let along over the whole globe, as you have no location specified or set. If you are in the US, then the more common species found are the Stagmomantis carolina, Tenodera sinensis, and Mantis religiosa. Although there are many very similar species with only subtle differences.

To get a identification though, several photos will be required. If you are having issues uploading here (you have to use a computer as phones/tablets have problems) then upload to a free image host site and just paste the links for them to show - for example I use PostIMG.org.

 

[Kermit]

StagmoAntarcticus Sp. ?

 

[mantiswhisperer]

i cant get a picture to post for some reason but i have a white praying mantis i found it is an adult, has a black marking in his chest where his grabbers meet it, could anyone give me any information? she looks the same as a normal green mantis just white 

i have tried several times with no luck uploading, i am in australia but have a feeling the mantis come from u/s in our caterpillar shipment at work, i am trying again now to upload another pic! thanks for the info so far, if my pic doesnt work this time if u write albino mantis on youtube theres a video that goes for 8 minutes and is the same mantid, cant find anything else on it elsewhere 

thanks 

 

[spider_creations]

Albino insects of any kind is supposedly impossible, and I've never heard or seen of a legitimate one yet. I've only seen a "white" body in any insect (mantids included) shortly after them molting (before they fully harden and dry).

No idea of the species - as the "normal green mantis" could be dozens in the USA alone as green is found in any species. Let along over the whole globe, as you have no location specified or set. If you are in the US, then the more common species found are the Stagmomantis carolina, Tenodera sinensis, and Mantis religiosa. Although there are many very similar species with only subtle differences.

To get a identification though, several photos will be required. If you are having issues uploading here (you have to use a computer as phones/tablets have problems) then upload to a free image host site and just paste the links for them to show - for example I use PostIMG.org.

Although they are considered crustaceans, isopods come in albino, right at the moment I am working on getting my albino morph to produce more albinos.

 

[CosbyArt]

i have tried several times with no luck uploading, i am in australia but have a feeling the mantis come from u/s in our caterpillar shipment at work, i am trying again now to upload another pic! thanks for the info so far, if my pic doesnt work this time if u write albino mantis on youtube theres a video that goes for 8 minutes and is the same mantid, cant find anything else on it elsewhere 

thanks 

Well this must be the video here, but as clearly visible the white dot on the forearm (1:32 in the video) is vastly different (brighter and a solid white) than the mantid coloration even without the black border of the spot. Then at the 2:00 video area the mantid is clearly shown as a tan coloration, as the sunlight is not overbearing the camera the author used. At best I would describe the overall mantid coloration as a pale tan with a semi-transparent exoskeleton (and the bright sunlight made it appear lighter in some of the video due to the camera).

Speaking of the colored spot/dot on the forearms, if you can find what color your mantid has it will help possibly identify it.

Although they are considered crustaceans, isopods come in albino, right at the moment I am working on getting my albino morph to produce more albinos.

Indeed as you stated it is not a insect. It seems it may have to do with insects chitinous exoskeleton, and that it is without melanocytes as that is mentioned by many others in comments. However, from what I can find the isopod's exoskeleton (sometimes referred to as cuticle) is also made of chitin - so it makes the difference even more unknown.

I did find a article on a strain of albino isopods here. Best of luck perfecting the strain in your isopods.

 

[mantiswhisperer]

thank you for digging deeper i do Appreciate it, the mantis in that video is as close as i can find, she has complete wings though and the markings are solid black and are more so on the chest then the arms, my email address is [email protected] if u are comfortable emailing i will send you the pictures i have that way

thanks again 

 

[CosbyArt]

thank you for digging deeper i do Appreciate it, the mantis in that video is as close as i can find, she has complete wings though and the markings are solid black and are more so on the chest then the arms, my email address is [email protected] if u are comfortable emailing i will send you the pictures i have that way

thanks again

No problem, but so far it hasn't helped out. Sure I'll email you in a second, and I'll post the photos here for everyone can view.

I originally removed your email from your post in case you didn't want it floating around the forum (some people are really protective) but I see you listed it in your profile too so I restored your original message.

 

[mantiswhisperer]

unfortunatly no it hasnt but we are getting there, im sure from the pictures on my phone you will be able to help, it might be more a creamy colour then full white but it changes to white at night, sounds good mate i didnt get an email from you yesterday but as soon as i do i will flick them accross 

thanks mate 

 

[CosbyArt]

unfortunatly no it hasnt but we are getting there, im sure from the pictures on my phone you will be able to help, it might be more a creamy colour then full white but it changes to white at night, sounds good mate i didnt get an email from you yesterday but as soon as i do i will flick them accross 

thanks mate 

I sent the a few minutes after my message yesterday, not sure what happened. So I just resent the message as well.

 

[mantiseater]

Your description sounds like Mantis religiosa which can be white in color and has black spots on the inside of the forearms. http://bugguide.net/node/view/323165

 

[mantiswhisperer]

sorry mate i have just seen this, i think you are rite, it must have gotten to western australia in our work shipment, pretty cool! 

thank you for that 

 

[CosbyArt]

@mantiswhisperer Here are your photos that you e-mailed to me last night. Due to their huge original dimensions and size (8MB+) they had to be edited down to attach here (and likely why you never could attach them yourself, I think the default member photo upload cache is 5 or 10 MB total for all photos).

Hopefully this helps with the ID.

 

[Dracus]

There is also a native species, Mantis octospilota, but on my specimen the coxal spots are different from M. religiosa, they are more diffuse and without clear distal border. Unfortunately, these spots aren't shown on the photos. If it is indeed religiosa, it would be terrible if it spreads and competes with octospilota.

Also, it eats poor native Orthodera on the last photo.

 

[bobericc]

Also had an "albino" mantis that was never really ID'd 

Came from yen like 6 years ago lol she was one of the friendliest mantids ive kept to date, her wings were also only saddle sized.